According to a recent survey, about one-third of Americans admit to never deep-cleaning their houses. A large number of people don’t ever get around to doing deep-cleaning because, well, they just don’t like cleaning very much!
This has helped to create a huge market for residential cleaning services. There are a lot of companies that have set up shop throughout the country to help people get their houses clean.
If you’re someone who doesn’t mind getting your hands dirty, you might want to think about trying to start a cleaning business. You could potentially make a lot of money cleaning homes throughout your community.
Before you attempt to get a new cleaning company off the ground, though, you should ask yourself, “How much does it cost to start a cleaning business?” You want to be sure that you have more than enough funding to get your cleaning business going.
It’ll be difficult to predict exactly how much starting a cleaning business will cost you. But there are some factors that will impact the price you’ll pay.
Learn about some of these factors below.
Registering Your Business
One of the very first things that you’re going to want to do when you start a cleaning business is register it within your city and state. You’re going to run into all kinds of problems down the line if you don’t go through this process.
Every city and state handles the business registration process a little bit differently. But generally speaking, you’re probably going to need to register your business name in some form or fashion prior to setting up shop.
You’re also going to have to pay some kind of fee in most cities and states to get your business registered. It’ll be one of the first business-related expenses that your cleaning company will face when you’re getting started.
Obtaining the Proper Licenses for Your Business
You might be under the impression that you won’t need to acquire any licenses to run a cleaning company. But this couldn’t be further from the truth!
Almost all businesses need to obtain at least one or two different types of licenses to legitimize their companies. And your cleaning business isn’t going to be any different.
In most cities and states, you will need a vendor’s license at the very least before you’re able to start doing business. But you should, once again, check with your specific city and state to see which licenses will be required of you.
Getting these licenses shouldn’t take too much work on your part. But you will need to apply for them and pay an application fee in most cases, which will add another cost to starting a cleaning business.
Securing Insurance Policies for Your Business
There are a bunch of different things that could possibly go wrong when you start a cleaning business. For instance, you could:
- Do damage to the interior of someone’s home while cleaning it
- Get injured while attempting to pick up a piece of heavy cleaning equipment
- Have cleaning equipment and supplies stolen from a company vehicle
With this in mind, you’re 100% going to need to have business insurance policies in place for your cleaning company. They’ll protect you, any employees you might have, and your equipment in the event of an accident, a theft, or another unforeseen incident.
They’ll also make people feel more comfortable about hiring your company. They won’t be worried about welcoming you into their homes when they know that you have the right insurance policies in place.
Setting Up an Office Space for Your Business
When you start a cleaning business, you’re going to be spending most of your time out in the world cleaning people’s homes for them. This might lead you to believe that you won’t need to set up an office space for your cleaning company.
But you should have an office space worked into your business plan for house cleaning company. It’s going to be tough for you to keep your company on the right path without setting up an office space somewhere in your city.
You don’t need to break the bank on a big, fancy office equipped with high-end furniture. Chances are, you’re not going to be entertaining clients in your office very often.
But you should have an office space that’s big enough to fit a few desks so that you can take care of paperwork and perform other office tasks. The space should also have enough room to store some of the cleaning equipment and supplies that you’re going to need to start a cleaning company.
Investing in Accounting Software for Your Business
You can make some good money when you start a cleaning business if you play your cards right. On average, cleaning companies can make anywhere from $75 to over $400 cleaning homes in their communities.
You’re going to love being able to make this kind of money. But you’re going to need to find a way to keep your finances straight so that you’re able to pay your taxes on time, shell out money to any employees you might have, and cover your business-related expenses.
It’s why you’re probably going to want to invest in accounting software to keep everything in order. You’ll have a much easier time keeping tabs on the money that’s coming into your business and going back out again when you have good accounting software on your side.
Purchasing the Right Cleaning Equipment and Supplies for Your Business
You’re obviously not going to be able to run a successful cleaning company without a boatload of cleaning equipment and supplies. They’re going to be the lifeblood of your business and will help to keep your company afloat in the months and years to come.
Purchasing cleaning equipment and supplies is going to be one of the biggest expenses that your cleaning company takes on in its infancy. But you shouldn’t skimp on them since you’re going to be using them each and every day to clean the houses in your community.
Some of the cleaning equipment and supplies that you’ll need will include:
- Vacuum cleaners
- Floor polishers
- Carpet shampooers
- Cloth rags
- Brooms
- Toilet brushes
- All-purpose cleaning solutions
And that’s just the beginning! You’re going to need equipment and supplies that will make it possible for you to clean every room within a house.
You’re also going to need to constantly service your equipment and replenish your supplies. It’ll be one of the biggest ongoing expenses that your cleaning company faces.
Buying Vehicles for Your Business
How are you going to transport all of your cleaning equipment and supplies to the homes that you clean throughout your community? That’s going to be one of the questions you’ll have to ask yourself when you start a cleaning business.
At first, you might be able to get away with using your personal vehicle for transportation. But if you want people to take your cleaning company seriously, you’ll have to work your way up to buying business vehicles to carry all your equipment and supplies around.
Ideally, you should buy one or two vans that you and your employees can use to hold all of your equipment and supplies. You can have them painted or wrapped so that they have all the necessary information about your company on the outside of them.
Buying company vehicles for your cleaning business isn’t going to be cheap. But you’re not going to be able to get away with not having them for very long.
Hiring People to Work for Your Business
One of the ways that you might be able to get around spending too much money when you first start a cleaning business is by doing most of the cleaning yourself. Every time you book a cleaning job, you can visit a home and clean it on your own.
You’re not going to be able to keep this up forever, though. It would be unreasonable to think that you’re going to handle every cleaning request that comes in.
At some point down the line, you’re going to have to bring in other people to work for your business. And of course, you’re going to have to pay them for their time and effort.
You should look for experienced people who are going to represent your cleaning company well when you send them out on a job. And you should prepare to pay them accordingly when they do.
You might also want to bring other employees on board to handle some of the behind-the-scenes work that will need to be done on behalf of your business. For example, you may need to hire an accounting team, marketers, and more to help you take your business to new heights.
All of these hires will drive your cleaning company’s business costs up. But they’ll be well worth it when you start to see your company grow.
Creating a Website for Your Business
It doesn’t seem like it would be possible for companies to stay in business in 2020 without fully-functioning websites. But guess what? There are plenty of companies out there that try to do it!
In fact, surveys have revealed that almost half of all small businesses don’t have a website set up. Many of these businesses are missing out on the opportunity to make a bigger splash than they are simply because they don’t have websites.
You shouldn’t try to do what these businesses are doing. Instead, you should create a website that will help you to attract new clients to your cleaning company at all times.
Your website should feature:
- A homepage that introduces people to your cleaning company
- A services page that showcases what your cleaning company is capable of
- An “About Us” page that provides the history of your cleaning company
- A blog that helps your cleaning company’s search engine optimization
- A “Contact Us” page that makes it easy for people to reach your cleaning company
A website might cost you anywhere from $100 if you build it yourself to over $10,000 if you have a professional lend a helping hand with it. But no matter what price you pay, it’s going to be worth making the investment.
Marketing Your Business
At the end of the day, you might start the best cleaning business in town. But if no one knows about it, it’s not even going to matter.
For this reason, marketing your cleaning company is going to be one of the most important things that you do after starting it. It’s going to be impossible to turn your cleaning company into a success without the right marketing plan in place.
In this day and age, it’s never been easier to find cost-effective ways to market your business. You can use things like email marketing and social media marketing to market your company for next to nothing.
But you might also want to loosen up your purse stringers and spend a little bit of money on marketing to make the biggest impact possible. You can do this by running advertisements in your local newspaper, sponsoring a local Little League team, and more.
Whatever you do, don’t forget to put a marketing plan into place as soon as you start a cleaning business. It’s going to help set the right tone for your company and ensure that it gets off to a strong start.
Find Out What It’s Going to Cost You to Start a Cleaning Business
As you can see, there are so many factors that are going to affect the cost to start a cleaning business. These factors are going to be different for everyone.
You should go through each of these factors and try to calculate what they’ll cost you. It’ll provide you with a much better idea of what you’ll have to be prepared to pay to get your cleaning company up and running.
Read through some of the other informative articles on our blog to get more great advice on starting your own business from scratch.
